Field of the Art
The disclosure relates to the field of client interactions, and more particularly to the field of recording complex interactions.
Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of telecommunications, particularly in contact centers, calls are frequently recorded and reviewed for such purposes as monitoring center operations, customer needs, or for reviewing contact center agent performance. Call recordings are typically stored as single data files, according to a specific call that took place. Within a recording there may be multiple participants (such as multiple customers in a single conferenced call), and a particular call may end prior to the end of a customer's actual interaction (such as when a call may have been transferred to another agent, terminating the initial call and beginning a new one). Additionally, further communication such as emails or text messages may be sent between call participants, that may not ordinarily be recorded as part of the interaction.
Traditional approaches of simply recording a call and storing the recording do not accommodate multiple participants well, causing incomplete or congested recordings where multiple parties may be talking over one another, and data may be confused or lost in such instances. Furthermore, communication taking place outside of the call itself, either by alternate communication methods or by communication at different times (such as a follow-up telephone call), are not recorded as the recording is limited in scope to the original call.
What is needed, is a means to identify complex interactions encompassing multiple participants, communication methods, or time periods as necessary, and to further record, store, and present these complex recordings in an appropriate manner for review as needed.